room ir.] natural history. (Animals.) 31 
of a series of horny joints, fitting one into the other, which the animal 
can shake at pleasure; there are several detached rattles, to show their 
structure; the fer de lance of the French colonists in South America, 
and the different kinds of poisonous snakes allied to the rattle-snake 
which come from India. The Vipers; as the adders of Europe, the 
long-nosed viper ( Ammodytes ) of Southern Europe ; the crested or 
double-horned viper of Egypt and North Africa; the nosehorn viper 
of Guinea, and the puff adder or short-tailed viper of the Cape of 
Good Hope and Western Africa. The viper is the only reptile found 
in Great Britain possessed of dangerous poisonous qualities. 
Wall Cases 11 — 16. The Colubrine Snakes. 
Case 11. On the lower shelves. The Sea Snakes, which are pe¬ 
culiar to the seas of Asia and New Holland, and are in some degree 
dangerous, as many of the species have small fangs dispersed amongst 
the true teeth ; some of them grow to a very large size; they sleep on 
the shores coiled up, and are sometimes found asleep on the surface 
of the calm tropical seas ; and the Acrochorde, found in the ditches 
of the rice-fields of India. 
Cases 12—15. The genera allied to the Boa ; they are the only- 
snakes furnished with the rudiments of legs; they are not venomous, 
and kill their prey by crushing it between the folds of the body, gene¬ 
rally at the same time twisting the end of their prehensile tail round a 
tree or some other fixed point, in order to increase their power; some 
come from America, some from India, and a few from Africa. 
Cases 16, 17. The genera allied to Coluber; as the water snakes 
( Tropidonotus) and the common ring snake of England; the coraL snake 
(j Elaps), which is marked with alternate black and red rings; the flat¬ 
tailed coral snake, which lives in the sea and has a flattened tail; the 
juggler snakes ( Naja ), which have the faculty of dilating the skin of the 
neck so as to form a kind of hood over the head; they are found in 
Africa and India, and are used by the native jugglers in their exhibi¬ 
tions ; the Indian species have usually a yellow spot on the back of the 
neck, somewhat resembling a pair of spectacles. These snakes have 
their hinder teeth larger than the rest; are furnished with a poison tube, 
like the fang of the rattle-snake and vipers. The tree snakes, or coach- 
whip snakes, have very long bodies; they live chiefly on trees; one of 
these is peculiar for its nose being much produced. 
Wall Cases 18—23. The Tortoises and Turtles. 
Cases 18, 19. The Land Tortoises, which live on vegetable sub¬ 
stances. They are used for food ; as the gigantic Indian tortoise, natu¬ 
ralized at Galapagos, from whence they are procured in large numbers 
for food by the sailors; and the different species from India, Africa, 
and America, many of which are beautifully varied with yellow. 
Cases 20 -22. The Fresh-water Tortoises, or Terrapins, which 
live on animal food; they are found in the warmer parts of both 
hemispheres, and are eaten by the North Americans and the natives of 
India. Some grow to a large size, as the crocodile or snapping tor¬ 
toise of America, and the thurgi tortoise of India. On the lower 
shelves of Case 22 are the Chelydcc , which differ from the other terra- 
